The present invention relates to a multipolar connector having a plurality of connection terminals, and more particularly, to a multipolar connector having a lock member for doubly locking a terminal connected to an electric wire.
As a related-art multipolar connector, a multipolar shielded connector described in, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 219758/1999, will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.
The multipolar shielded connector, designated by reference numeral 10, houses a plurality of terminal sections 2a of shielded electric wires 2, and terminals 3 connected to the terminal sections 2a. The multipolar shielded connector 10 has a connector housing 5 and a shielding member 7. A plurality of housing sections 4 are formed in the connector housing 5, and the terminals 3 are housed in the connector housing 5 along with the terminal sections 2a. The shielding member 7 collectively sheathes the plurality of housing sections 4 within the connector housing 5, thereby providing electromagnetical shielding from the outside of the terminal sections 2a of the electric wires 2 and the terminals 3 connected to the terminals sections 2a. 
A holder 12 is engaged with an open rear end 11 of the connector housing 5.
The holder 12 is constituted by upper and lower half cover members 13, 14. Elastic engagement frames 16, each having an engagement hole 15, are formed in outer circumferential surfaces of the respective cover members 13, 14. The holder 12 is fastened to the opening section 11 of the connector housing 5 by means of causing the engagement holes 15 to engage with lock projections 17 provided on the outer periphery of the connector housing 5. Thus, a rubber plug 18 and a conducting block 19 are inhibited from coming out of the connector housing 5.
The conducting block 19 electrically connects a braided shield 2b of the shielded electric wires 2 to the shielding member 7. The shielded electric wires 2 pass through the rubber plug 18, thereby sealing the electric wires 2 and the connector housing 5 in a fluid-tight manner.
In the multipolar connector having the foregoing construction, the housing sections 4 house the terminals 3 and the terminal sections 2a and finally expand. In association with an increase in the number of poles, the connector housing 5 has become bulky, and simultaneously the multipolar connector has become bulky in the axial direction of the terminals 3.
The terminals 3 are doubly locked so as not to be able to come out of the connector housing 5, by means of unillustrated lock member for terminal locking purpose formed in the housing section 4 and the holder 12 fixed to the connector housing 5. The lock member provided in the housing section 4 cannot be applied to some terminal configurations. In this case, the terminals 3 are locked by simply the holder 12. However, locking of the terminals 3 with only the holder 12 may fail to provide connection reliability. For instance, if terminals connected to heavy-current wires are not doubly locked, a safety hazard may arise.
The present invention has been conceived in view of the foregoing circumstances and aims at providing a multipolar connector which has lock means for doubly locking terminals, ensures high connection reliability, and enables miniaturization of the connector.
In order to solve the aforesaid object, the invention is characterized by having the following arrangement.
(1) A multipolar connector comprising:
a connector housing for housing a high-current connection terminal connected to a wire and a low-current connection terminal connected to a wire;
a first holder, for preventing removal of the high-current connection terminal, including a first engagement section adapted to be engaged with the connector housing; and
a second holder, for preventing removal of the low-current connection terminal and preventing removal of the high-current connection terminal, including a second engagement section which is adapted to be engaged with the connector housing at a position differing from that of the first engagement section.
(2) The multipolar connector according to (1), wherein the first holder includes a first shielding member projecting from an interior surface of the first holder and interposed between two adjacent high current connection terminals when the first holder is attached to the connector housing.
(3) The multipolar connector according to (2), wherein the first shielding member projects from a center portion of the interior surface of the first holder.
(4) The multipolar connector according to (1), wherein the second holder includes a plurality of second shielding members projecting from an interior surface of the second holder for housing a plurality of the low-current connection terminals therein, respectively.
(5) The multipolar connector according to (4), wherein the plurality of second shielding members are inserted into corresponding terminal housings provided in the connector housing when the second holder is attached to the connector housing.
(6) The multipolar connector according to (1), wherein the second holder covers the first holder to prevent the removal of the high-current connection terminal.
(7) The multipolar connector according to (1), wherein the first holder is interposed between the wire connected to the high-current connection terminal and the wire connected to the low-current connection terminal.
(8) The multipolar connector according to (1), wherein the first holder partially covers a surface of the connector housing, into which the high-current and low-current connection terminals are inserted, to allow insertion of the low-current connection terminal.
(9) The multipolar connector according to (8), wherein the second holder covers the first holder and the rest of the surface of the connector housing which is not covered by the first holder.
The first holder is individually attached to the first engagement section, and the second holder is also individually attached to second engagement section. Hence, the first and second holders possess independent terminal engaging forces. Hence, even when the lock means formed in the housing section cannot be applied to terminal geometries, the terminals can be doubly locked by the first and second holders.
Even when the connector housing has a structure in which the size of the connector housing is shortened in the axial direction and connection terminals are partially exposed by way of the rear end of the housing, the holders are arranged to come into contact with the connection terminals. Hence, the connection terminals can be locked so as not to be removed from the connector housing.
A housing can be miniaturized by means of application of the connector housing.
Even in the case of a connector structure in which connection terminals are partially exposed by way of a rear end of the housing, the first shielding member is arranged to as to partition adjacent connection terminals from each other, thereby inhibiting occurrence of contact between the terminals. The terminals are partitioned from each other without fail, and hence a multipolar connector can be miniaturized further by means of reducing the interval between adjacent terminals.
Even in the case of a connector structure in which connection terminals are partially exposed by way of a rear end of the housing, the second shielding member is arranged so as to partition them from each other, thereby inhibiting occurrence of a contact between the terminals.
Even when connection terminals have been incompletely inserted into the terminal housings, the second shielding member is inserted into the terminal housing and pushes the connection terminals when the second holder is attached to the housing, thereby inhibiting incomplete insertion of the connection terminals.